Fall 2019 Newsletter

BRP leaders Hesse, Suls retire

The end of July saw the retirement of two leaders in the Behavioral Research Program: Jerry Suls, senior scientist in the Office of the Associate Director, and Bradford Hesse, chief of the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB).

Dr. Suls was appointed as BRP Senior Scientist in 2013. While at NCI, he served as the primary contact for BRP efforts in cancer-related cognitive impairment and as co-lead of the Office of Disease Prevention’s Trans-NIH Comorbidity Special Interest Group. Dr. Suls led the NCI-sponsored workshop “Sun Safety: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Behavioral, Cognitive and Sensory Science,” hosted by the National Academy of Sciences Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences, which culminated in a commentary published in JAMA Dermatology. He also was involved in the Cognitive, Affective, and Social Processes in Health Research (CASPHR) Workgroup and led two of its workshops. During his tenure at NCI, Dr. Suls also served as President of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.

Dr. Hesse was appointed Chief of HCIRB in November 2006, after serving as the Acting Chief from 2004-06. While at NCI, he championed several initiatives that evaluate and advance the science of cancer communication and informatics, including the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) and the Centers of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research (CECCR). He also was involved in the joint NIH-NSF collaboration on Smart and Connected Health and the NCI-FCC collaboration titled L.A.U.N.C.H. (Linking & Amplifying User-Centered Networks through Connected Health).

In recognition of Dr. Hesse’s 15+ years of service to HINTS, the Bradford W. Hesse Student Abstract Commendation was established, to be presented to one or more deserving trainees at each HINTS Data Users Conference. The inaugural winners, recognized at the May 2019 conference, were:

• Jennifer Bowers, Stony Brook University, “Indoor Tanning, Sunscreen Use, Cancer Worry and Risk in 18-34 Year Old Americans”
• Abdullah Alanazi, University of Alabama at Birmingham, “Information Seeking, Tobacco Product Use and Beliefs of Addictiveness and Harmfulness of Electronic Cigarette Use Among the Adult U.S. Population”

Career and Training Opportunities

TCRB Program Director position

BRP invites letters of interest from candidates with a Ph.D. or equivalent and experience in tobacco control research, especially in tobacco cessation, to serve as a Program Director (Health Scientist Administrator) in the Tobacco Control Research Branch (TCRB). Program Directors support external researchers, develop funding opportunities, conduct and present studies, and more. Read the position description »

BRP Survivorship Program Director position

BRP invites letters of interest from researchers with a Ph.D. or equivalent along with expertise in cancer survivorship to serve as a Program Director (Health Scientist Administrator). Candidates with a research or clinical focus on survivorship-related basic behavioral, biobehavioral, and psychological processes or behavioral interventions are especially encouraged to apply. Read the position description »

HCIRB Program Director position

BRP invites letters of interest from cancer communication researchers with a Ph.D. or equivalent to serve as a Program Director (Health Scientist Administrator) in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB). Read the position description »

Fellowship in Statistical Analysis, Measurement, and Informatics

BRP invites applications from master’s and Ph.D.-level candidates to work in its Office of the Associate Director to conduct and support research in the areas of statistical methodology, especially with population data related to behavioral outcomes (e.g., tobacco use, diet and nutrition, and communication); novel data merges and linkages; innovative development and use of scientific measures; and promoting data system interoperability. Candidates with degrees in quantitative methods, statistics, data science, or behavioral science are especially encouraged to apply. Read the position description »

Presidential Management Fellowship program

This leadership development fellowship is sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Participants serve two-year appointments and work at various Federal agencies, including NCI. Applicants must have recently completed a professional or advanced degree or be eligible to complete one by August 31, 2020. The 2020 application opens October 3, 2019, and closes at noon ET on October 17, 2019. Learn more »

Funding Opportunities

Stimulating Innovations in Behavioral Intervention Research for Cancer Prevention and Control
R21 Clinical Trial Optional; PAR-19-309
BRP Contact: Tanya Agurs-Collins
Posted: June 28, 2019
Expires: September 8, 2022

Maximizing the Scientific Value of Existing Biospecimen Collections
R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed; RFA-OD-19-021
BRP Contact: Rachel Grana Mayne
Posted: July 8, 2019
Expires: March 9, 2021
Helpful Resources

Secondary Analyses of Existing Datasets of Tobacco Use and Health
R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed; RFA-OD-19-022
BRP Contact: Rachel Grana Mayne
Posted: July 8, 2019
Expires: March 9, 2021
Helpful Resources

HHS Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Contract Solicitation
PHS 2020-1
NCI Contact: Brittany Gibau
Posted: July 10, 2019

Participant Engagement - Cancer Genome Sequencing Network
Research Centers - U2C Clinical Trial Optional; RFA-CA-19-045
Coordinating Center - U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed; RFA-CA-19-046
BRP Contact: Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou
Posted: July 30, 2019
Expires: July 31, 2020
Helpful Resources

Leveraging Cognitive Neuroscience to Improve Assessment of Cancer Treatment-Related Cognitive Impairment
R01 Clinical Trial Optional; PAR-19-340
R21 Clinical Trial Optional; PAR-19-339
BRP Contact: Todd Horowitz
Posted: August 12, 2019
Expires: June 9, 2022

Innovative Approaches to Studying Cancer Communication in the New Information Ecosystem
R01 Clinical Trial Optional; PAR-19-348
R21 Clinical Trial Optional; PAR-19-350
BRP Contact: Kelly Blake
Posted: August 16, 2019
Expires: June 9, 2022
Ethical Considerations for Social Media Research

Neural Regulation of Cancer
R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed; PAR-19-353
R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed; PAR-19-354
NCI Contact: Chamelli Jhappan
DCCPS Contact: Paige Green
Posted: August 28, 2019
Expires: May 28, 2022

In the News

Fewer than 17% of U.S. universities have 100% smoking or tobacco bans

A Reuters article featured a study led by BRP Program Director Kelly Blake on anti-tobacco policies on U.S. university campuses. The researchers found that in 2017, only 16.7% of accredited, degree-granting institutions had 100% smoke-free or tobacco-free protections, and about 26.9% of students and 25.4% of faculty and staff were protected by campus policies and state laws. “Smoke-free environments change perceptions of peer tobacco use and de-normalize smoking,” Dr. Blake told Reuters Health via email. “The only way to fully protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke is to eliminate smoking in indoor workplaces and public places.” The study, which was published in Tobacco Control, also drew coverage from STAT News and from HealthDay, whose article was picked up by U.S. News and World Report .

Even small boosts in step counts may help lower mortality rates

The New York Times recently wrote about an NCI-funded study that examined whether daily step counts and intensity were associated with lower mortality rates among older women. In the study — which was led by recent BRP grantee I-Min Lee and co-authored by former BRP grantee David Bassett, among others — mortality rates decreased with even small increases in average daily step counts, before leveling at about 7,500 steps per day. The article includes comments from both Dr. Lee and Dr. Bassett, as well as BRP grantee Abby C. King.

Pediatrician-based interventions can help parents quit smoking

A recent NCI Cancer Currents blog post featured a BRP-funded study of the Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure (CEASE) intervention, in which parents were screened for tobacco use and offered cessation treatment during visits to their child’s pediatrician. “We wanted [to develop] a simple system that would deliver help to parents in a routine and effective manner and wouldn’t involve a lot of the pediatrician’s time,” Jonathan Winickoff, principal investigator and BRP grantee, told Cancer Currents. Study co-authors also include current and former BRP grantees Nancy Rigotti, Deborah Ossip, and Jonathan Klein. At the end of the two-year study, the smoking rate was down 2.7% among parents in the intervention group, compared with going up 1.1% among parents in the control group. “Programs like this are a way to intervene with adults while they are still young and are likely to be motivated to quit because they want to protect their children,” BRP Program Director Yvonne Prutzman told Cancer Currents. The study was also featured in a Reuters article.

Scientific Advances

Dialysis patients want greater communication on disease, prognosis, and end-of-life care planning

A team including recent BRP grantee Paul Duberstein surveyed 450 adult chronic dialysis patients on their knowledge of their kidney disease and attitudes toward treatment and end-of-life care issues. They found that among those who responded, 71% wished to discuss their quality of life with their nephrologist, 50.4% their psychosocial and spiritual concerns, and 38% their end-of-life issues. These findings can help inform the development of future interventions on patient-provider communication and decision-making.

Saeed, F., Sardar, M.A., Davison, S.N., Murad, H., Duberstein, P.R., Quill, T.E. Patients’ Perspectives on Dialysis Decision-Making and End-of-Life Care. Clin Nephrol (2019).

Lessons learned from three teams who completed NCI’s SPRINT program

NCI’s SPeeding Research-tested INTerventions (SPRINT) program, a dissemination and implementation accelerator program, offers eligible NCI grantees real-world, applied training on how to successfully transform cancer control innovations into market-ready products. In a new paper, BRP Program Director April Oh and BRP collaborator Anna Gaysynsky, NCI Implementation Science’s Cynthia Vinson, recent BRP grantee Nora Nock, and collaborators present three case studies of teams who completed the program. The studies demonstrate “that customer discovery is a potentially useful method for making interventions more responsive to the needs of stakeholders, and that researchers can benefit from learning the ‘language’ of business” and working with businessmen and -women before starting the research translation process, they wrote.

Oh, A., Gaysynsky, A., Knott, C.L., Nock, N.L., Erwin, D.O., Vinson, C.A. Customer Discovery as a Tool for Moving Behavioral Interventions into the Marketplace: Insights from the NCI SPRINT Program. Transl Behav Med (2019).

Report on key points for preventing and combating misinformation on social media

In August 2018, NCI hosted an invitation-only working group meeting titled “Trust and Misinformation in the Age of Social Media.” Participants discussed multiple topics relevant to misinformation on social media, including prevalence of cancer misinformation online, consequences, responses to misinformation, and methodological considerations for conducting research on misinformation. In a new report, a team including BRP collaborator Anna Gaysynsky, fellow Dannielle Kelley, Program Directors April Oh and Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, and recent fellow Emily Peterson summarized five key points that the working group identified for preventing and combating misinformation. These observations offer a foundation for future preventive medicine research and intervention to advance public health.

Southwell, B.G., Niederdeppe, J., Cappella, J.N., Gaysynsky, A., Kelley, D.E., Oh, A., Peterson, E.B., Chou, W.S. Misinformation as a Misunderstood Challenge to Public Health. Am J Prev Med (2019).

Disparities in smoking prevalence grow with additional disadvantages

BRP grantee Adam Leventhal and collaborators used 2008-2017 National Health Interview Survey data to examine the associations between smoking status and the presence of six socioeconomic and health-related disadvantages: unemployment, poverty, low education, disability, psychological distress, and heavy drinking for 60 or more days in a year. Results of their study demonstrated that disparities in smoking prevalence were successively larger with each additional disadvantage faced and have widened over the past decade. Dr. Leventhal discussed the team’s findings with MedPage Today .

Leventhal, A.M., Bello, M.S., Galstyan, E., Higgins, S.T., Barrington-Trimis, J.L. Association of Cumulative Socioeconomic and Health-Related Disadvantage With Disparities in Smoking Prevalence in the United States, 2008 to 2017. JAMA Intern Med (2019).

Early-age use of e-cigarettes associated with higher odds of other substance use

BRP grantee Sean Esteban McCabe and collaborators studied the sequence in which adolescents started using cigarettes and e-cigarettes and to what extent their initiation sequence corresponded with other substance use (alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs). The team used 2015-2016 data from the Monitoring the Future study, which surveys a nationally representative sample of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students. Their study found that substance use was highest among adolescents who used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes and that using e-cigarettes at an early age was associated with higher odds of other substance use. In addition, those adolescents who used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes were more likely to report initiating cigarette smoking before e-cigarette use.

McCabe, S.E., Veliz, P., McCabe, V.V., Boyd, C.J. Initiation Sequence of E-Cigarette and Cigarette Smoking among US Adolescents: A National Study. Am J Addict (2019).

Sociodemographic differences drive tobacco use differences between transgender, cisgender individuals

Using data from Wave 2 (October 2014 to October 2015) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, recent BRP fellows Christopher Wheldon and Kara Wiseman examined tobacco product use among transgender and cisgender individuals. Compared to cisgender individuals, a larger proportion of transgender respondents reported current use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or cigars. However, multivariate analyses found that differences in current tobacco use were not due to gender identity. Rather, they were fully explained by sociodemographic differences between transgender and cisgender respondents, particularly in terms of income and educational attainment.

Wheldon, C.W., Wiseman, K.P. Tobacco Use Among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults in the United States. Tob Use Insights (2019).

Special journal issue examines multimorbidity

Health Psychology recently published a special issue titled “Multimorbidity in Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine Research,” guest-edited by BRP Branch Chief Paige Green and recently retired Senior Scientist Jerry Suls. Its nine articles suggest ways that health psychology and behavioral medicine can contribute to understanding, preventing, and controlling multimorbidity, defined in the issue as the concurrent presence of more than one chronic health disease or condition in an individual. Topics include relevance, measurement, mechanisms, and interventions for multimorbidity; the representation of multimorbidity in behavioral intervention trials; and guidelines and system-level proposals to improve healthcare for patients with multiple health conditions. Authors include a number of BRP grantees, in addition to Dr. Green and Dr. Suls.

Introduction: Suls, J., Green, P.A. Multimorbidity in Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. Health Psychol (2019).

Cancer and Aging activities underway in BRP

One of the newest pages on the BRP website is “Aging Trajectories in Cancer Survivors,” a research area of increasing interest to the program. BRP Branch Chief Paige Green recently spearheaded the formation of the Trans-NCI Cancer and Aging Coordinating Committee, which she is chairing. A new JNCI article by BRP fellow Jennifer Guida, Dr. Green, and Lisa Gallicchio of NCI’s Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, plus many other collaborators, shares conclusions and recommendations from the July 2018 NCI-convened think tank “Measuring Aging and Identifying Aging Phenotypes in Cancer Survivors.” Another recent publication by Drs. Guida, Green, and Gallicchio describes the “Cadillac Study” on cancer and aging envisioned by the late Arti Hurria, a BRP grantee and collaborator who co-chaired the 2018 think tank. BRP’s next project related to aging is a series of webinars, which will begin October 7; see this newsletter’s “Events” section for more information.

Guida, J.L., Ahles, T.A., Belsky, D., Campisi, J., Cohen, H.J., DeGregori, J., Fuldner, R., Ferrucci, L., Gallicchio, L., Gavrilov, L., Gavrilova, N., Green, P.A., Jhappan, C., Kohanski, R., Krull, K., Mandelblatt, J., Ness, K.K., O'Mara, A., Price, N., Schrack, J., Studenski, S., Theou, O., Tracy, R.P., Hurria, A. Measuring Aging and Identifying Aging Phenotypes in Cancer Survivors. J Natl Cancer Inst (2019).

Guida, J.L., Green, P.A., Gallicchio, L. Envisioning Arti's 'Cadillac study' to assess aging trajectories in cancer survivors. J Geriatr Oncol (2019).

MOVE! weight management program not sensitive to built environment

Former BRP grantees Shannon Zenk (lead author), Elizabeth Tarlov, Marian Fitzgibbon, and Lisa Powell and collaborators examined whether short- and longer-term effects of the VA’s MOVE! program, a structured nationwide weight management program, might vary along with characteristics of participants’ built environment. They estimated program effects on body mass index (BMI) after 6, 12, 18, and 24 months and found that “the program effect did not vary significantly across subgroups with different walkability, park access, or fitness facility access.” The results did not support the hypothesis that the program complements the built environment, nor the hypothesis that it substitutes for the environment’s constraints, they wrote.

Zenk, S.N., Tarlov, E., Wing, C., Slater, S., Jones, K.K., Fitzgibbon, M., Powell, L.M. Does the built environment influence the effectiveness of behavioral weight management interventions? Prev Med (2019).

Testing physical activity interventions and factors that may affect them

Adaptive interventions allow for adjustments based on individuals’ performance, and new technologies allow for incentives to be delivered sooner. Few prospective studies have addressed the hypothesis that higher-walkable neighborhoods enhance moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) interventions. Thus, in the WalkIT Arizona study, BRP grantee Marc Adams and collaborators are testing individual-level adaptive goal setting and incentive interventions for MVPA adoption and maintenance among adults from neighborhoods with varying walkability. This report describes their study.

Adams, M.A., Hurley, J.C., Phillips, C.B., Todd, M., Angadi, S.S., Berardi, V., Hovell, M.F., Hooker, S. Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics of WalkIT Arizona: A factorial randomized trial testing adaptive goals and financial reinforcement to increase walking across higher and lower walkable neighborhoods. Contemp Clin Trials (2019).

Sun protective behaviors vary with duration, reason for walking

BRP fellow Calvin Tribby and Program Directors Frank Perna and David Berrigan used data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey to examine whether sun protective behaviors differed by category – e.g., transportation and/or leisure – or duration of walking. They found that odds of sunscreen use were higher with longer walking duration for both categories, compared to those who reported no walking; odds of sun avoidance were lower with longer-duration leisure but not transportation walking; and the odds of using sun protective clothing were higher for longer-duration transportation walking, but not leisure walking. These variations “may provide important insight into strategies to increase sun protection while promoting physical activity,” they wrote.

Tribby, C.P., Perna, F.M., Berrigan, D. Walking and Sun Protective Behaviors: Cross-Sectional Associations of Beneficial Health Factors. Int J Environ Res Public Health (2019).

Awards and Recognitions

• BRP Grantee Wendy Demark-Wahnefried was chosen as the 2018 winner of the Mary P. Huddleson award, which recognizes a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who published an exceptional paper in the academy’s journal during that calendar year. She was honored for her paper Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of a Home Vegetable Gardening Intervention among Older Cancer Survivors Shows Feasibility, Satisfaction, and Promise in Improving Vegetable and Fruit Consumption, Reassurance of Worth, and the Trajectory of Central Adiposity. Learn more about Dr. Demark-Wahnefried in her BRP Featured Grantee profile.
• Together with DCCPS colleagues and NCI Acting Director Douglas Lowy, BRP Program Director Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou hosted members of the Congressional Cancer Survivors Caucus for a meeting at the NIH Clinical Center, where they discussed patient-provider communication research and related policies for facilitating patient-centered cancer care.
• BRP Program Director Rachel Grana Mayne served as a panelist in a congressional briefing held by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) on the prevention of e-cigarette use among youth. She reviewed the state of the science on e-cigarettes and explained that research priorities include rapid surveillance of e-cigarette products and use, short- and long-term health effects, and trajectories of concurrent use with other tobacco products.
• BRP Program Director Gordon Willis received an NIH Director's Award for his work as part of the team that coordinated the development, testing, and fielding of the NIH Workplace Climate and Harassment Survey.
• BRP fellow Alex Budenz was selected for a Embassy Science Fellowship in Beijing, China, to work on addictive behaviors, substance use, and mental health.
• BRP fellow Melissa Trevino was chosen for a Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE), an NIH-wide honor that recognizes outstanding scientific research by intramural postdoctoral fellows.
• Richard Moser, BRP’s Training Director and Research Methods Coordinator, was chosen for the 2019 NCI Director’s Award in the Champions category for his outstanding mentorship. Dr. Moser directs the fellowship training program for the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.
• Recent BRP fellow Christopher Wheldon was one of seven NIH members who received the inaugural 2019 Sexual & Gender Minority (SGM) Community and Ally Leader Award from the NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. He’s also featured in a “Change Agents” profile on the office’s blog.

Resources

BRP Research Resources and Tools page refreshed

Find tools or inspiration for your next research project on our just-updated Research Resources and Tools page. The new layout makes it easier to browse through the available items, including a new section dedicated to resources for tobacco control research. Explore the page »

New vaping content added to Smokefree Teen website

Smokefree Teen, part of NCI’s Smokefree.gov initiative, now includes resources for teen users of e-cigarettes (vapes). The site includes content to help teens learn about how to quit vaping, deal with cravings, and cope with common triggers such as anxiety and stress. Smokefree Teen was featured in a CNN article that discussed Food & Drug Administration (FDA) campaigns to prevent e-cigarette use among teens.

‘Implementation Science at a Glance’ workbook now available

This 30-page workbook is designed specifically for cancer control researchers and practitioners and offers a succinct overview of the rapidly evolving field of implementation science. Summaries of key theories, methods, and models demonstrate how greater use of implementation science can support the effective adoption of evidence-based interventions. Case studies illustrate how practitioners are successfully applying implementation science in their cancer control programs. The guide, written by members of the NCI Implementation Science team and reviewed by nearly 100 practitioners and researchers, is available as a PDF, as an epub, and on Kindle. Get the workbook »

New book: ‘Strategies for Team Science Success’

Team Science is a quickly growing field that focuses on understanding and handling barriers to and facilitators of large-scale research, training, and translational activities. DCCPS Director Robert Croyle and BRP Program Director Kara Hall and collaborator Amanda Vogel recently edited the book “Strategies for Team Science Success,” which highlights evidence-based principles and practical guidance for conducting cross-disciplinary team science. First-person accounts from health researchers demonstrate the application of strategies and tools in a variety of settings. Learn more »

New book: ‘Geospatial Approaches to Energy Balance and Breast Cancer’

The natural, built, and social characteristics of the environment a person lives in contribute to cancer across the spectrum, from etiology through diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. A new book co-edited by BRP Program Director David Berrigan provides insights into the relatively new and rapidly developing field of geospatial factors impacting breast cancer. Its chapters introduce novel methods and tools to use in such studies, and illustrate the utility of these approaches “to improve etiological, prevention and health care delivery research in breast cancer.” Learn more »

NCCOR adds learning modules to complement Measures Registry

The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) is a partnership of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Its new Measures Registry Learning Modules are designed to complement the Measures Registry and Measures Registry User Guides to assist researchers and practitioners with choosing the best measures across the four domains of the Measures Registry: individual diet, food environment, individual physical activity, and physical activity environment. The Learning Modules include an overview module and modules for each of the four domains. Each module domain includes a glossary, additional resources, an interactive case study, and short quizzes to enhance classroom learning and understanding of key concepts. The Learning Modules are a great tool for users who are newer to research and evaluation in diet and physical activity, or individuals who need a refresher on key concepts. Access the Learning Modules »

Events

September 25 – Pre-Application Webinar for Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS): Frequently Asked Questions

In this webinar, DCCPS representatives will discuss frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) that will support the components of the Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS) Network, part of the Cancer Moonshot℠: several U2C Research Centers (RFA-CA-19-045) and one U24 Coordinating Center (RFA-CA-19-046). Learn more and register »

An earlier webinar, on August 7, introduced both FOAs and answered audience questions. Recording and slides »

September 26 – Webinar: FLASHE Data: Example and Insights from Four Teams

In this webinar, attendees will hear examples of published scientific projects that used data from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) study. Four teams will discuss their experiences working with these publicly available datasets and resources. The webinar, which expands on prior webinars about the FLASHE study, will conclude with a “FLASHE FAQ” portion and brief updates from the NCI FLASHE team. Register »

October 3 – Webinar: Improving Outcomes for Pediatric, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors

In this webinar, DCCPS representatives will explain the goals and objectives for the Cancer Moonshot℠ -associated Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) RFA-CA-19-033, which will support applications to develop and test interventions that prevent, mitigate, or manage adverse outcomes in pediatric and/or adolescent/young adult (AYA) cancer survivors, and/or to evaluate models of care that strengthen coordination, continuity, and care quality or reduce access barriers to needed services. Register »

October 7 – Webinar: Building Infrastructure for Cancer and Aging Research

In this first installment of the NCI-sponsored Perspectives on Cancer and Aging: Arti Hurria Memorial Webinar Series, Supriya Mohile of the University of Rochester and William Dale of City of Hope will discuss a history of geriatric oncology in the U.S., highlighting the contributions of the late Arti Hurria, an internationally recognized leader in the field and a BRP grantee and collaborator. They’ll also cover current research priorities in cancer and aging, including “accelerated aging,” and collaborative efforts for cancer and aging research. Register »

October 9 – Webinar: Towards a Social Data Science for Safety and Quality: Emerging Methods of Exploring the Team Microenvironment in Cancer Care

Michael Rosen of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will review existing and emerging methods for understanding team interactions across the cancer care continuum, and their application in addressing research and care management challenges in complex healthcare delivery systems. He will highlight new methods for using data “found” in existing information systems or generated through unobtrusive sensing systems. This event is part of DCCPS Geospatial Approaches to Cancer Control and Prevention webinar series. Register »

November 4-5 – 2019 Geroscience Summit, Bethesda, Maryland

Join leading researchers, innovators, and public advocates from academia, industry, the non-profit sector, and NIH for an introduction to major concepts of geroscience and discussion of how basic research into the biology of aging has led to the identification of biochemical pathways and cell biological changes that contribute to aging and age-related chronic disease. This summit is being convened by the Trans-NIH Geroscience Interest Group (GSIG), a collaboration among 20 NIH Institutes and Centers that focuses on chronic diseases of the elderly. Register »

November 7-8 – NIH Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration

Join about 65 NIH and HHS staff for this 2-day seminar in Phoenix, Arizona, and select from workshops and sessions on more than 45 topics related to the NIH grants process. Optional pre-seminar workshops are also available, on Nov. 6, with topics related to eRA, intellectual property, human subject protections, and more.

December 4-6 – Science of Dissemination and Implementation Conference

The 12th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health, co-hosted by NIH and AcademyHealth, will focus on mapping the way forward for improvements in the development, execution and application of D&I science. Early registration ends October 7. »

December 6 – NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival

The Annual NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival will be hosted by OBSSR and the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee on the NIH Campus in the Natcher Conference Center. The purpose of the festival is to highlight recently funded behavioral and social sciences research that the NIH supports; bring together behavioral and social scientists within the NIH extramural and intramural communities to network with each other and share scientific ideas; and explore ways to advance behavioral and social sciences research. Learn more »